Subversion is an application used for version control, it is meant to become a replacement of CVS Concurrent Versions System. Subversion is also known as svn.

This how-to will show how to setup svn repositories accessible throught http by using apache2 and the DAV module.

This tutorial is splitted in 4 parts: install neccessary packages, create the repository structure, configure apache and create the first repository.

Neccessary packages

First of all we need to install the required packages:

apt-get install subversion libapache2-svn

Repository structure

The projects are going to be hosted on /var/svn/repository. We need to create to directories and give full permission to the apache user:

mkdir /var/svn
mkdir /var/svn/repository

Now that the directory exist, we need to give write access to the apache user:

chown www-data:www-data -R /var/svn/repository
chmod 770 -R /var/svn/repository

Configuring Apache

Now, we need to modify apache svn module configuration file, edit /etc/apache2/mods-available/dav_svn.conf and make sure the following argument are properly setted up:

...
SVNParentPath /var/svn/repository
#SVNPath /var/svn/repository
.....
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Subversion Repository"
AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/dav_svn.passwd
Require valid-user
...

In order to be able to track who modify the different files of the project, we need to create users. Create the first user (tester) and supply a password:

htpasswd2 -c /etc/apache2/dav_svn.passwd tester

Creating a first repository

Get apache user access (so files and directories are created with proper rights:

su www-data

and create your first repository (example):

svnadmin create /var/svn/repository/example

import your project:

svn import /path/to/projectexample file:///var/svn/repository/example/examplev1 -m"initial import"

Now, get back to root user (Ctrl-D) and restart apache:

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Your project is now avalaible to the different user you will add in /etc/apache2/dav_svn.passwd .

User tester can now access the project at http://svnhostaddress/example and checkout a first copy to his computer, modify files and commit back his changes to the server.

Reference:

• 
• SVN online Book.